Earwig — Earwig(Blu Ray)
Earwig is a decidedly glum, extremely slow-paced, and often visually half-lit drama- with touches of horror & macabre fantasy in a dour art house tone. The 2021 film is a UK, French, and Belgium production which regards a middle-aged man looking after a ten-year-old girl for his 'masters'- the girl has ice for teeth, which have to be replaced several times per day. From those seekers of cinematic curios Anti-World Releasing- here’s a Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring on the disc a good selection of extras, and a glossy inlay booklet.
Earwig was directed/ co-written by Lyon, Rhône-born Lucile Hadzihalilovic. She has three features and four shorts to her name- with her other two feature lengths going from haunting & enchanting girls boarding house drama/ mystery Innocence (2004), and seaside set/childhood-focused drama-horror Évolution (2015).
Earwig has a rather vague historic setting- I’m guessing somewhere during or just after WWII, or maybe in the 1950s in an unnamed European country. With much of the first hour of this two-hour film taking in just two characters- Albert Scellinc (Paul Hilton) a middle age greyly pallor man with a slightly nervy persona, and gel-back receding hairline. And Mia(Romane Hemelaers) a very quiet, sullen, and at times haunted ten-year-old girl. Pretty much all of the first hour of this just under-hour film takes place inside a large dark wooden panelled mansion- which is terminally in the half-light of low-watt bulbs. And here we follow the day-to-day lives of the two- Albert preparing ice denters for Mia- then fitting them in a murky strip light lite kitchen. He answers the phone to his ‘masters’ & looks troubled. As she tries to find things to play with/interact with around the house.
In the film's second half, we step outside of the mansion- to the largely greyly lit autumn days, and a few inside other buildings scenes. As Albert is instructed to get her ready to move- after seemingly spending most of her life locked away in the mansion. We also get subtle hints/ nods towards Albert's past & a few characters involved with him- but I won’t detail these, as they’ll rather spoil the film.
It’s fair to say Earwig is a very distinctive & decidedly drab cinematic creation- and to be honest, I’m still somewhat undecided what to make of it, and If I enjoyed it or not. As mentioned in my introduction the film is very slow-paced- and boy that is an understatement- it literally crawls along, and this with its often-half-lit look means it’s a very doomy & gloomy affair. In the first half of the film- not a terrible amount of things happen, and to make things even more difficult for its first twenty-five minutes there is zero dialogue.
As we get into the film- we do get an element of mystery growing, and this pulls you into the whole thing more. By the second half, a certain amount of puzzlement is added to the mystery- along with a few moments of jarring/ nasty gore pop up. Touches of hazy trippy-ness, and a pervading feel of queasy disquiet
As I mentioned early, I’m undecided quite what to make of the film- so, as a result, I’m not sure if I can recommend it or not. I’d say you’ll certainly have to have a fair bit of patience, enjoy gloomy & arty fare, and be ready for the challenge to even consider Earwig.
The Region B Blu-Ray comes with a card slip, and a glossy fifty-two-page booklet- this takes in new writing on the film, as well as a great selection of stills from the film, full credits etc. On the disc itself, we get a few interesting extras. There’s a new onscreen interview with director Lucile Hadzihalilovic (20.39) She begins by talking about how it was rewarding to have a male adult as the film's main protagonist - as in her other films she focused on child characters more. She talks about the ice teeth, realizing its effect in the film, and her thoughts about the meaning of the whole teeth thing. She touches on the original book the film is based on, and its author. She talks about the cast, and more.
Otherwise, we get the following Catling: Where Does It All Come From?( one hour & twelve minutes) this is a 2021 Arena doc looking at the life and work of Brian Catling- who wrote the original novel the film was based on, as well created sculptures, paintings, and performance art. A New Music ( 12.55) is a subtitled black & white doc regarding the Ondes Martenot- which was used for the creation of the film's score, and is one of the earliest examples of a synth- as the first one was made in 1928. So, a nice selection of extras.
Earwig is most certainly a highly distinctive and deeply morose cinematic experience- which will most certainly not be for everyone, and hopefully, you'll have a good idea if it is for you or not now. With another classy release/ presentation from Anti-World Releasing- who has once again released a very one-off film here.